Evelyn’s Butterfly Effect in Grantham marks Evelyn Gibson’s 18th birthday with Flower Friday

Proud parents of a schoolgirl who died in 2022 marked her 18th birthday by spreading kindness far and wide.

Followers of Evelyn’s Butterfly Effect, set up in memory of Grantham schoolgirl Evelyn Gibson, took part in Flower Friday last Friday (May 17), to mark what would have been Evelyn’s 18th birthday on Sunday (May 19).

The idea was for people to buy flowers or pick them from their garden and surprise someone with them on the day.

Jenni Swift, Evelyn’s mother, said they were “blown away with the response”.

She added: “We decided to do this to mark Evelyn’s 18th birthday in a meaningful way, to spread kindness in her memory, create ripples of positivity and hopefully help others in some small way.

“We asked people to share photos with us so we could see the ripples of kindness spread far and wide and we received hundreds of messages from all over the country. Scotland and Northern Ireland too!

“We feel overwhelmed with gratitude for everyone who joined in #FlowerFriday with us to mark Evelyn's 18th birthday and spread some kindness.

“It brings us some comfort to know that all this kindness is happening around the UK because of Evelyn, because she lived and because she loved.”

Evelyn’s Butterfly Effect was set up by Jenni and her husband Jack after Evelyn lost her battle with mental illness in 2022 aged 15.

On Flower Friday, Jenni thinks Evelyn would have been “really embarrassed of the attention” — but she would have loved to see the “ripples of kindness and the impact of these gestures”.

She added: “Evelyn didn't want others to feel the way she did, and so if these random acts of kindness have helped just one person who is struggling, then it's worth it.”